We started the season back in March; guys and girls all resident in Taiwan but with 12 different nationalities represented in the club this year!

Many new players came out to try Gaelic Football for their first time: we had basketball players and volley ball players, surfers and runners, ice-hockey players and Aussie-Rulers! As always our buddies from the Taipei Baboons Rugby Club joined in for training and practice games. The lads from Rogue FC and Taipei City FC soccer clubs got more involved with their second sport, Gaelic Football, in 2010! We also saw a big increase in the number of girls joining in throughout the season.

Now 6 months later, after grueling sessions under typhoon rains and in the roasting summer heat, through all the bangs and bumps and the patient hours of practicing the Gaelic Football ‘Solo’, having survived the physical, verbal, and emotional abuse inflicted by the cruel team trainers (we love ye really!!), 24 players from Taiwan head to Hong Kong on September 24th to compete in both the Mens and the Ladies 2010 Asian Gaelic Games tournaments.

You can keep up-to-date with the progress of the Taiwan teams by checking us out on Facebook for the latest updates throughout the weekend.

A big thanks to the players and shoppers/cheerleaders from the Taiwan Celts who traveled to Kuala Lumpur in July for the clubs first tour of 2010! We all had a ball meeting up with the Orang Eire teams for beers in KL and of course the Gaelic football games on Saturday! Our hosts Orang Eire GAA were very welcoming and put on a really great weekend for us.

Taiwan Celts GAA will be making their 15th consecutive appearance this year at the largest GAA tournament in Asia. The 2010 Asian Gaelic Games will take place in Hong Kong from Saturday 25th to Sunday 26th of September, and already close to 70 teams throughout the region are in training for this amateur sporting event.

There’ll be a number of Mens Gaelic Football competitions running during the weekend, with 4-in-a-row A division Champions Hong Kong GAA looking to retain the Derek Brady Cup on their home turf, no doubt against some stiff competition from all sides!

2009 Ladies Champions “Singapore Lions” will be tested this year with record numbers of ladies teams expected at the tournament. Our Taiwan Celts girls are training each weekend in Taipei in preparation for the event. New players welcome along to join in!

There is also a lot of new interest in the Taiwan Celts Men’s team this season. The 2010 squad already consists of players from Ireland, UK, US, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, South Africa. Many first-timers who plan to don the Taiwan jersey in Hong Kong this coming September.

The tournament is hosted this year by the htHong Kong GAA and governed by the Asian County Board (ACB). In addition to Taiwan, GAA Clubs and teams expected to compete hail from Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Shanghai, Beijing, Vietnam, Dubai, India, Philippines, and many more.

The Taiwan Celts held their second training of the season last Saturday, March 21st. Another good turnout of men and women largely thanks to the efforts of communications officer Tony Lonergan and his incessant spamming of all foreigners in Taiwan for the last 12 months.

Karsten Tonnesen was even on hand to get some great photos of the action.

Mark your calendars and tell your friends, the 2010 Taiwan Celts season is set to begin. Training will take place on February 27th, from 12 noon until 2pm at the Bai Ling You An Riverside Park, Taipei. We look forward to a good turnout to kick off the start of a successful season for both men’s and ladies teams.

We are currently looking for new players to get involved with the Taiwan Celts Nu’s squad this season.

The new Gaelic football season will begin in February, when we will start introductory training sessions to teach the skills of the game to new players coming along for the first time.

Throughout the season the training will build up to include fitness and skills sessions, as well as regular game practice.

When numbers allow we will organize friendly matches against some local teams, and when possible we will organize challenge tournaments with other ladies Gaelic clubs around Asia.

In October 2010, the Taiwan Celts club will be traveling to the Asian Gaelic Games (AGG) for the 15th time in both the clubs and the competitions history. After a fantastic weekend for the games in Bangkok Thailand in 2009, the hosts for the 2010 AGG will be the Hong Kong GAA.

Around 50 teams from all around Asia participated in the 2009 AGG, with record numbers of ladies teams competing. More again are expected in 2010.

Anyone who is in interested to learn the sport and play with us, you are very welcome to get involved. No previous experience is needed, and we welcome all levels into our club.

Please contact us and register your interest. We will keep you up to date on all the goings on in the club, and upcoming training sessions for the ladies squad.

Freelance Journalist Denis O Brien has set up a sports webcast to track and profile the Gaelic sports clubs and competitions around the world.

First stop on the trail is GAA sports in Asia, and the TaiwanCelts were interviewed last month to talk about the history and development of GAA in Taiwan, and our clubs involvement in setting up the first Gaelic Games in Asia back in 1996.

Released in November 2009, “The GAA – A Peoples History” traces the earliest days of the Gaelic Sports movement in Ireland, right up to present day and the status of the GAA worldwide.

The book, commissioned by the GAA, includes a chapter called “Exiles” which reviews the movement of the GAA from Ireland and into other regions around the world. A certain little GAA club called “the TaiwanCelts” features in this chapter, with a great photo of the fabulous TaiwanCelts Nu’s team from 2007.

The Taiwan Celts are delighted and proud to be associated with this major book release

The Taiwan Celts Men’s team traveled to Bangkok to participate in the 2009 AGG, reaching the plate quarter-finals before they were defeated by eventual plate winners, Suzhou Celts. The Taiwan Nu’s joined up with the Shanghai team for the ladies tournament.Continue reading 2009 Bangkok Asian Gaelic Games→

t was an amazing weekend of sports, music, craic and wicked thunder storms in Bangkok last weekend. The Taiwan Celts made their 15th consecutive appearance at the tournament with a full Mens squad and Nu’s players Holly and Felicia joining the Shanghai Ladies team for the 2009 competition.Continue reading 2009 Bangkok Tour Report→